The Kik Bot Platform

#1

Post by kkouddous » Tue, Apr 05, 2016, 6:21 PM UTC

The Kik Bot Platform
avc.com

Re: The Kik Bot Platform

#2

Post by reustle » Tue, Apr 05, 2016, 6:31 PM UTC

Just don't open source your bot and put it on NPM :-)

Re: The Kik Bot Platform

#3

Post by rubiquity » Tue, Apr 05, 2016, 6:39 PM UTC

If your investor has to pimp your idea for you then that probably means it's a dud. The idea of Brand Bots seems really impersonal. I would want Bots for quickly getting through the things I hate doing (returns, troubleshooting) but not for getting coupons by scanning a "Bot sticker" (fancy QR code?).

Re: The Kik Bot Platform

#4

Post by hammock » Tue, Apr 05, 2016, 6:42 PM UTC

rubiquity wrote: post #3

If your investor has to pimp your idea for you then that probably means it's a dud. The idea of Brand Bots seems really impersonal. I would want Bots for quickly getting through the things I hate doing (returns, troubleshooting) but not for getting coupons by scanning a "Bot sticker" (fancy QR code?).

Coupons are more personal for you than troubleshooting?

Re: The Kik Bot Platform

#5

Post by elsen » Tue, Apr 05, 2016, 6:46 PM UTC

reustle wrote: post #2

Just don't open source your bot and put it on NPM :-)

I was expecting a left-padding robot as a demo.

Re: The Kik Bot Platform

#6

Post by kkouddous » Tue, Apr 05, 2016, 6:48 PM UTC

We've been developing a bot with their platform for the last few weeks and it's a well designed API with features that can help sculpt a great bot experience e.g. allowing for controlling the amount of time the bot appears to be typing. Definitely worth a look if you're into bots (and as a team that recently developed an iOS app, boy is it great to be out of under the thumb of Apple's review process and developing on a platform where the UX is the copy).

Re: The Kik Bot Platform

#7

Post by devit » Tue, Apr 05, 2016, 6:51 PM UTC

Can anyone explain how a chat-based interface can possibly be generally successful except briefly as a novelty?

Surely an UI with controls specific to the task at hand is much better than having the user guess what the bot responds to and what it can do?

In the restaurant use case, for instance, a QR code + text URL that points to a website where you can advertise the restaurant with whatever graphics and UI you want seems far better than some sort of text interface (which also requires them to be Kik users, know they can scan the code, etc.).

Re: The Kik Bot Platform

#8

Post by KayL » Tue, Apr 05, 2016, 6:54 PM UTC

Can I use the word "Kik" in my bots that connected to Kik?

Re: The Kik Bot Platform

#9

Post by rubiquity » Tue, Apr 05, 2016, 6:58 PM UTC

hammock wrote: post #4

rubiquity wrote: post #3

If your investor has to pimp your idea for you then that probably means it's a dud. The idea of Brand Bots seems really impersonal. I would want Bots for quickly getting through the things I hate doing (returns, troubleshooting) but not for getting coupons by scanning a "Bot sticker" (fancy QR code?).

Coupons are more personal for you than troubleshooting?

You might be trying to connect two things that I wasn't. A bot is impersonal no matter what task you're doing so the perceived value of a bot would have to be speed or maybe accuracy of certain details. Speed is something I would want during troubleshooting.

Re: The Kik Bot Platform

#10

Post by Jtsummers » Tue, Apr 05, 2016, 7:02 PM UTC

reustle wrote: post #2

Just don't open source your bot and put it on NPM :-)

This is actually what I was thinking of when I read the emails with the prior kik (on npm) developer. An interface for people to write javascript chat bots or integrate it into websites. They'd, of course, want to be able to use their own product (and company) name when releasing this code.